German New Guinea
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5
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Search complete. 12 mentions across 5 episodes found for "German New Guinea".
Oct 11, 2026
Andy StewartHOST
The Samoan police were disbanded in January 1914 after four of its members caused some local problems, as the literature refers to it.
Andy StewartHOST
German New Guinea had a force of police equipped with old rifles.
Andy StewartHOST
Where there were strategic assets, they came in the form of a growing network of radio communication masts and coal resupply stations.
Andy StewartHOST
News of increased stresses in Europe, the slide into and eventual declarations of war between the European powers, reached Samoa quickly through the brand-new Telefunken radio mast on the hills above Apia, the main town of the German-controlled island.
Andy StewartHOST
The islands, and in particular their German and other European workers and residents, would quickly become dependent on supplies from Allied countries, be it Japan or the British Empire states.
Andy StewartHOST
Most of the islands were very quickly notified they were effectively under new management, and the practical reality was that it made no difference to the lives of the indigenous populations.
Andy StewartHOST
There was a significant exception with German New Guinea, known as Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, and the Bismarck Archipelago to the north of Australia, which we'll come to in a bit.
Andy StewartHOST
Firstly, the occupation of German Samoa by New Zealand in late August 1914.
Matthew P. FitzpatrickGUEST
And, um, I thought it was important not only for, for German history, but also for the history of the, of the Pacific.
Matthew P. FitzpatrickGUEST
I mean, many people f- have often completely forgotten that there was a, a German Samoa, that there was a German New Guinea, that there was a German Micronesia.
Matthew P. FitzpatrickGUEST
Um, and so trying to sort of put that, that element of, of the history back into the, the debate was, was kind of what I was interested in trying to do with, with this book.
Miranda MelcherHOST
Yeah, no, that definitely gives us a good platform, I think, to discuss, um, what you came up with.
19 MINS LATER
Matthew P. FitzpatrickGUEST
So if the Germans wanted laborers, well, very few Samoans would be drawn into the wage economy.
Matthew P. FitzpatrickGUEST
They just were not interested in doing so des- despite the outrage of the, [laughs] of those, uh, Germans who wanted them to work for them.
Matthew P. FitzpatrickGUEST
So what it, what you saw instead is that the big plantations, the big German plantations, um, brought in Melanesian laborers from German New Guinea, um, but also, um, Chinese, uh, contract laborers as well.
Matthew P. FitzpatrickGUEST
And, uh, now both of these, the Melanesians and Chinese, were treated really quite poorly by, um, by, by the Germans as, as a kind of a, a sort of a helotized or proletarianized workforce.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
And, um, I thought it was important not only for, for German history but also for the history of the, of the Pacific.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
I mean, many people f- have often completely forgotten that there was a, a German Samoa, that there was a German New Guinea, that there was a German Micronesia.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
Um, and so trying to sort of put that, that element of, of the history back into the, the debate was, was kind of what I was interested in trying to do with, with this book.
Miranda MelcherHOST
Yeah, no, that definitely gives us a good platform, I think, to discuss, um, what you came up with.
19 MINS LATER
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
So if the Germans wanted laborers, well, very few Samoans would be drawn into the wage economy.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
They just were not interested in doing so des- despite the outrage of the [laughs] of those, uh, Germans who wanted them to work for them.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
So what, what you saw instead is that the big plantations, the big German plantations, um, brought in Melanesian laborers from German New Guinea, um, but also, um, Chinese, uh, contract laborers as well.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
And, uh, now both of these, the Melanesians and Chinese, were treated really quite poorly by, um, by, by the Germans as, as a kind of a, a sort of a helotized or proletarianized workforce.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
And I thought it was important not only for German history, but also for the history of the Pacific.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
I mean, many people have often completely forgotten that there was a German Samoa, that there was a German New Guinea, that there was a German Micronesia.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
And so trying to sort of put that element of the history back into the debate was kind of what I was interested in trying to do with this book.
Miranda MelcherHOST
Yeah, no, that definitely gives us a good platform, I think, to discuss what you came up with.
19 MINS LATER
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
So if the Germans wanted laborers, well, very few Samoans would be drawn into the wage economy.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
They just were not interested in doing so, despite the outrage of those Germans who wanted them to work for them.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
So what you saw instead is that the big plantations, big German plantations, brought in Melanesian laborers from German New Guinea, but also Chinese contract laborers as well, and Now, both of these, Melanesians and Chinese, were treated really quite poorly by the Germans as a kind of a sort of a helotized or proletarianized workforce.
Matthew FitzpatrickGUEST
But the Samoans did what they could to kind of sidestep this kind of wage economy that they didn't feel that necessarily they wanted to be drawn into.